32 Kansas Academy of Science. 



teaching, my observation is — and I think that those of you who 

 are teachers and those who have observed the results of sec- 

 ondary and college instruction will bear me out — that there is 

 an almost universal lack of accuracy in thinking and working 

 among our young people. The fault lies in no one place, but 

 permeates the whole general scheme of education. Nor is it 

 anything new. The malady was observed long ago, and the 

 introduction of science teaching into our schools, which it was 

 hoped would prove an antidote to the disease, has not alleviated 

 the situation. 



Some of the causes are not especially far to seek. Too much 

 importance is placed on mere memory. As Professor Cooke re- 

 marks, "Many a student will solve an involved problem in 

 algebra readily enough, so long as they can do it turning their 

 mental crank, when they break down on the simplest practical 

 problem of arithmetic, which requires of them only thought 

 enough to decide whether they shall multiply or divide." To 

 the average college student, "the acquisition of the elementary 

 principles of a science is burdensome and distasteful," simply 

 because, if the course is given rightly, he is forced to use 

 methods of thought, in which he is wholly untrained ; and it is 

 difficult in the second place because he usually has no compre- 

 hension of the need of accuracy. 



One of the causes of this latter failing is the introduction of 

 the multiplicity of subjects into the secondary schools. The 

 American plan has been to put every kind of a literary dish on 

 the table, from nature study to psychology, and hand out a 

 portion of each to the unfortunate pupil; and I fear, too, that 

 much of the menu could not be guaranteed under any literary 

 "food and drug act." The result is severe mental dyspepsia. 

 The mental and moral make-up would have been much better 

 nourished with a few subjects, chosen according to their needs, 

 well "Fletcherized" and thoroughly digested. The fault goes 

 back to the whole spirit of the American people — a spirit that 

 likes to deal with large numbers and in glittering generalities — 

 and in this regard a time has come when there must be a 

 change. Our whole system of life, our agriculture, our eco- 

 nomic processes, must be not alone extensive but intensive. 



The second characteristic of these men that we should emu- 

 late is their broad interest in the various phases of human 

 activities and knowledge. This is a point that I wish to em- 

 phasize especially. It seems to me that the ideal result of the 



